To Rise Or Fail In Virtual Learning? The Struggle of Teaching During a Pandemic

The Covid-19 global pandemic has put every system and industry to the test. The American education system has been stretched beyond its limits through the disruption caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic. The unexpected and unprecedented impact of the virus left schools without a blueprint of how to move forward and fulfill the educational promises made to students and families. Students in urban education are suffering with severe learning losses because the systems that are in place were not prepared to tackle the issues the pandemic brought. Teachers have been unable to overcome and, in many cases, address the obstacles the pandemic birthed and illuminated.

Pre-Covid, schools that served low-income families were already confronted with the brutal facts of trying to close the achievement gap with their students. Spring 2020-Covid strikes, and with little to no preparation, schools were forced to try to figure out how to close the gap in a remote setting. Days of the lockdown turned into weeks, lower-income and Black and Brown students got further behind as their issues expanded and there was no substantial solution in place or in sight, in spite of the pandemic.

Teaching in the pandemic has been no easy feat. From March 2020- present, the pandemic has forced K-12 educators to attempt to manage the impact Covid-19 has had on them, their students and families, all while dealing with the school system’s inadequacies. Educators, families, and students are all faced with the reality that due to the pandemic, teaching and learning is on a steady decline for lower-income and Black and Brown students. The quality of teaching and learning has been diluted as educational infrastructures were not prepared to face the challenges that came with COVID. Many days in 2020 were darkened by the cloud of Corona. As the virus spread across the world with no end in sight, the rug of in person learning was ripped from under K-12 students, as the world pivoted to remote learning.

Virtual learning has widened the aperture that is focused on disparities faced by lower-income and Black and Brown students. Urban educators now have a heightened awareness of the issues that their students have been plagued with. They have gained a deeper understanding of what has existed, what persists, and obstacles remote learning has added to this list. Challenges such as inadequate parent involvement/supervision, food/housing insecurity, special education & social-emotional needs not being met, inconsistent internet/technology access, and unfocused/unstructured environments make it almost impossible for lower-income and students of color to attend, engage, and succeed in remote learning. The virtual space has given educators a more intimate view into the lives and realities of their students. Though the portrait highlights the imbalance in the world, it also informs educational stakeholders, leaving them with the passive choice of maintaining an ineffective cycle of weariness or becoming an active part in the collective response that is necessary to address and attack these ongoing issues with intentionality.

Living is now suffering through a pandemic that has no definitive end. Finding meaning in this suffering is accepting its existence and surviving. The problems that Covid has left educators, families, and students in urban education to face may seem insurmountable and worthy of being overlooked and unaddressed. While the situation seems bleak and uncontrollable, the reality of the pandemic implores educators to innovate or fail. The solution is not to lower expectations but to learn to adapt and thrive.

To help lower-income and Black and Brown students thrive in spite of Covid, is to focus attention on assessing and enhancing the quality of interactions with students and families. The likelihood of families and students being active participants in the educational partnership with schools increases when there is an environment that sees them, recognizes their needs, and values their engagement and success.